CBS fires veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley

Pelley was terminated on Tuesday after a bitter clash with newly appointed 60 Minutes executive producer Nick Bilton, according to a memo obtained by Puck’s Dylan Byers. “Despite yesterday’s misconduct, I had hoped that in sitting down with you today we could find a path forward together. You made clear that you are not interested in such a path,” Bilton wrote to Pelley. “Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear. And I have heard you. I therefore write on behalf of CBS News, Inc. (‘CBS’) to inform you that your employment with CBS is terminated for cause effective immediately.”

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Pelley’s exit reportedly followed an all-staff meeting on Monday in which he reportedly lashed out at Bilton, accusing CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss of “murdering” the program and telling Bilton he had “slender" qualifications for the role. Bilton previously worked as a documentary filmmaker and journalist for The New York Times and Vanity Fair. Bilton’s letter accused Pelley of rejecting efforts to work collaboratively before publicly attacking him. “It is a profound disappointment that you rejected that overture and chose ambush instead,” Bilton wrote, adding that Pelley had “hijacked” his first staff meeting to disparage him, his qualifications, and his intentions with “remarkable incivility and contempt.”

Weiss and Bilton had repeatedly communicated that they wanted Pelley to remain a 60 Minutes correspondent before the tense confrontation, per Fox News. Byers reported that CBS leadership later met with Pelley, but “the two sides did not find common ground.” Weiss reportedly asked Pelley to apologize and accused him of creating a hostile work environment.

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The firing comes after a round of cuts at 60 Minutes, including the departures of correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, as well as executive producer Tanya Simon. Pelley reportedly referred to those exits as “Black Thursday.” Weiss named Bilton as Simon’s successor the same day.

In a statement from Pelley, he claimed that "the new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration," claiming that 60 Minutes "lost its DNA when our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause."

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"For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story," he claimed. "I’ve been told to include assertions that are unverified. To date, in every case, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them. Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast. Giving politicians control over 60 Minutes interviews is not how this is done. Finally, incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc. In a case involving one of my stories, the entire program came within 19 minutes of not getting on the air at all."

Pelley, who joined CBS News in 1989 and became a 60 Minutes correspondent in 2004, has been publicly critical of CBS and parent company Paramount in recent months. In April 2025, following the resignation of former 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens, Pelley told viewers that Paramount had begun supervising content “in new ways” amid its merger with Skydance Media and mediation talks tied to President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the network. “Our parent company, Paramount, is trying to complete a merger,” Pelley said at the time. “The Trump administration must approve it. Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways. None of our stories have been blocked, but Bill felt he lost the independence that honest journalism required.”

Pelley also criticized Trump’s lawsuits against media companies during a Wake Forest University commencement address, saying journalists and their companies were being sued “for nothing.” Trump had sued CBS over its handling of a 60 Minutes interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Paramount later reached an eight-figure settlement with Trump before the FCC approved the Paramount-Skydance merger.

The remaining 60 Minutes correspondents include Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker, and Jon Wertheim. Anderson Cooper announced earlier this year that he was leaving the program after nearly two decades.

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